Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Handley.

Mr. Speaker, yes, there are several working groups headed up by deputies that are looking at various ways of achieving greater efficiencies in our government. I do not think that looking specifically at cuts is part of their mandate, but I think that as they look at how we can be more efficient as government departments, boards and agencies then I suppose some loss of jobs could occur. But we do not have a group looking specifically at cuts. We are looking at efficiencies though. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We are looking at a number of areas; included in there are our own government operations. We look at efficiencies and ways of streamlining. As we go through departments we could, for example, look at whether or not we could collapse two different divisions that are providing the same service. We also could look at boards and agencies. We are looking at energy efficiencies as being another way of cutting our costs. We are looking at our capital program. We are looking at a whole host of opportunities, like the way we purchase, for example.

As we do this we are being very comprehensive and looking at all aspects of government operations and trying to determine where cuts might be made. Right now Mr. Speaker it is a bit early for me to be able to identify specifically where cuts will be made. We need to get the reports back and do the analysis. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said in my Member's statement, we have a large number of public service employees out there that are aware of the fiscal situation that this government is in.

I would like to ask the Minister, if he could give us some assurance that a public announcement will be made in a timely fashion, to give the public service employees out there some assurance of the jobs that they do have.

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I said earlier, we do not have any plans to make cuts. It is not part of a plan. I can assure you that as we develop our plans then we can be making more definitive statements. But I think, as the Premier indicated earlier with the no layoff policy; although the policy does not exist, we still live by that same set of principles.

If it is at all possible to manage our budget without having any layoffs, then we would prefer that. Because layoffs impact not only the individuals but also on us in terms of our population. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Final supplementary, Mr. Delorey.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this possibly is one area that we could get some assurance from the Minister. We have talked about the federal budget that just came down. If there is any benefit to the Territories at all, would the Minister anticipate that we may have enough benefit there to maintain what we do have in the private sector as far as jobs and public service programs?

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. Minister Handley.

I am sorry, Mr. Speaker, I will have to have clarification on the question. I did not really understand it.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Mr. Delorey, perhaps you could just restate your question?

Simply that with any benefits that we may receive from the federal government in the budget that just came down, does the Minister anticipate that this will be enough to maintain what we do in terms of public service jobs and programs?

Thank you, Mr. Delorey. The honourable Minister responsible for Finance, Mr. Handley.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Definitely we will receive some benefits out of the federal budget, in a number of areas such as we mentioned; health and social transfer, forestry, geosciences and so on. We will get some benefits. But whether or not this is enough is a little bit difficult to judge at this point.

I expect it is going to be enough to maintain what we have in some areas. But as I mentioned earlier, in other areas like health and social programs, I do not believe there is going to be enough. It is too early to be definitive on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Handley. Item 6, oral questions. The honourable Member for Frame Lake, Mr. Dent.